Scots church to be made out of beer cans and old car tyres

Christopher Row, minister of Colston Milton Parish Church,said they wanted to use as many recycled items in the building as possible

A CHURCH made out of junk is to be built in a Scots city.

Locals in the Milton area of Glasgow will use old beer cans, car tyres and straw bales to construct the building, which is being partly funded by the Scottish Government.

The church will stand alongside theatre and community centre in district, which is one of the most deprived in Scotland.

The cans will be used to build walls and furniture while the tyres will be used as foundations. Insulation will be provided by the straw bales.

The ambitious recycling project will also use industrial pallets and shipping containers to build rooms.

The plans have already received funding from the Scottish Government, the lottery and Glasgow City Council but those behind the project plan to raise another £2.2 million to expand the scheme.

They plan to add a café, offices and a gallery set in landscaped gardens and hope the venture will be complete by 2014.

Christopher Rowe, minister at Colston Milton Parish Church, said: “We are creating a new building for ourselves – one can, one tyre, one straw bale at a time.

“The people of Milton will be building out of material commonly regarded as rubbish, things that people throw away but which in reality could be given another life in all sorts of ways.

“Our aim is to create a building with as many recycled materials as possible to use less energy and create fewer emissions.”

Resource

He added that the building would be done by “people who are often regarded as rubbish by society, one of the poorest communities in Western Europe, in a culture which is quite good not just at throwing away physical energy resources but human ones as well.”

Rev Rowe added many people loved the idea of using beer cans to make a church. He said: “I think they find something ironic and rather amusing about it.”

More than two tonnes of used aluminium cans have been collected by local residents, who aim to gather another two tonnes to complete the church. While some will be used in construction, some will also be sold to help fund the project.

An accompanying community building will be made from more than 500 car tyres, 300 timber pallets and 12 shipping containers, as well as old roof tiles and scaffolding planks.

Lee Ivett, the project coordinator, said: “We plan to transform the tyres into foundations, cans into walls and shipping containers into sustainable community space.

“In turn we are saving raw materials and money.

“It will demonstrate the value of recycling in a building project which will ultimately be a much-needed resource for the people of Milton.

“A hands on approach is the most appropriate way of demonstrating the benefits of a sustainable lifestyle that has recycling and reuse as a key component. Our projects provide a means of empowering the community in a manner that is economic, resourceful, sustainable and enriching.”

Richard Lochead, the government’s environment minister, added: “This shows just what can be achieved. Scotland’s households already recycle nearly 44% of waste, but there’s still a lot more to make Scotland a truly zero waste society.”